A Year to Prepare
by Maplesong
Summary: What happens when a teenage girl falls into Hyrule, aware that she fell a year before the TP adventure is set to start? Will be a prequel to her adventure with Link and the TP adventure. More LinkXOC than LinkXIlia, but not much of either
1. Prologue

Nagara: Sweet! First Story!

Midna: Get a life.

Nagara: Why are you even here? You aren't in this yet!

Midna: If I do the disclaimer, can I stay?

Nagara: Sure

Midna: Nagara does not own LoZ in any way. This chick only owns her OC that is technically herself, and the crappy plotline. Crappy because it isn't one yet.

Nagara: -shoves fish down Midna's throat- Yeah….this is really a prequel to what would happen if I was dumped into TP world, so no plotline yet. There will be a sequel when the storyline actually starts. Still thinking about the title, so whoever likes this, bear with me.

Midna: -coughs up fish- Nobody will

Nagara: You want that back down you throat or not?

* * *

><p>For as long as I can remember, I wished for an adventure: to do something more with my life, and for a greater purpose. A missionary trip fit this to a tee, being a Christian and all, but that wasn't the kind of adventure I wanted. I wanted to be using weapons: swords, bows, arrows, those kinds of things, with minimal chances of dying. Selfish much? I wanted to be in a video game. When I discovered Legend of Zelda, Twilight Princess was the kind of life I wanted. Fighting hand-in-sword with Link. Ah Link…You doesn't see Zelda much in that one do you? And is Ilia competition? If you see how powerful I can be, courageous, and how benevolent, no, she isn't. Midna is…and Link would look really good next to her…ah whatever. He picks his girl, not me.<p>

My personality grew more and more violent with the more I imagined it. Eventually, it occurred to me, "My heart is inside Hyrule."

Dumb right? Well I wanted to prepare for any chance I would get to go there. I prayed every night for it. To add to me selfishness, I prayed for my singing voice back – it went away when I developed a pollen allergy -, perfect vision – my vision started to go like three inches from my face- skills to use swords and archery, and to have the Twilight Princess adventure with Link: transformation and all. Eventually, it happened. There was a shooting at my school, and I took one to the head. Instead of dying, I was put into a coma. How do I know that? You'll learn soon enough

~~X~~

I woke up to see a light shining on my head, and I was lying on a straw mat. There was this almost beautiful male voice next to me, muttering something I could barely understand. "Dress…horse…bow and sword….noblewoman….don't…Ordona…..what the….girl." I tried to get up, but noticed my stomach and head hurt, like I was upside-down for a long time. I also noticed I was barefoot in a beautiful red dress, and I hate red. It looked sorta like it was from the Medieval Times, but I liked that kinda stuff, even before my fantasies about Hyrule.

I was on some platform, and when I looked to my side, I saw Link. His brown hair was messy, his farm clothes were dirty, and he smelled like mold, horses, and goats. In other words: perfect. Our eyes met right away, and he turned bright red. I would've laughed but I was in shock to who I was looking at. He finally said, "You didn't hear what I was saying did you?" His voice was even more beautiful when I could understand him.

All I could say was, "You were muttering, no one could understand a word you were saying."

He sorta smiled at that comment, and then asked, "What's your name?"

I pulled myself up and said, with as much pride in my voice as I could put in, replied with, "I think I know who you are, but I won't say unless you say first. How will you know if I'm lying? I could call myself Ruto or Saria or Malon or even Princess Zelda, and you've never seen her, so you couldn't call me a liar." I named Zelda characters cuz I knew they were names in this world. Saying Rachel or Lindsey might not have the same effect.

My comment about Zelda shook Link in his sandals. "H-how do you know I've never seen he?"

I put on the smuggest expression I could, and said, "You need to tell me your name first. But I'll spare you…Link of Ordon Village." Link fell back against his wall while gawking at me. And I didn't blame him. As far as he was aware of, I knew everything there is to know about him. "But I guess I'll say my name now, I'm Layla."

Link straightened himself up, and said, "Now you're entitled to answer my question: how do you know I've never seen Zelda?"

The realization I had to answer that drained me somehow, and I lay back down to fall asleep again. But before I did, I said, "I know things about Hyrule I shouldn't know."

Right as I closed my eyes, I heard him say, "What?" I opened my eyes as he pulled me back up by my shoulders. I probably turned red, but I didn't feel it. "What do you mean? What do you know?" He demanded.

I turned my head away, refusing to look him in the eye and said, "I can't tell you. It may alter the path of the future. And I won't change that."

He let me go, clearly not satisfied with my answer, but dropped the subject. Then he said, "All right…now what about that mark on your right hand?"

I had no idea what he was talking about, and then I looked at my hand and saw what looked like a yellow birthmark. It was the Christian Cross, wings coming out from the side, and a halo over the entire design. I realized its purpose right away. "It's not so different from the mark on your left hand."

He looked at his, and then preceded to argue, "It looks nothing like your mark. What're you talking about?"

"I didn't say it_ looked_ like you mark, I said its _like_ your mark. One day, I assume in a year, you'll know what the mark's purposes are."

Clearly still not satisfied, he gave me a dirty look and left me to fall asleep again.

When I woke up, I could hear talking down below me and outside. Realizing I could get up now, I walked a few steps to the lookout window of Link's Tree house. I could see the adults of the Ordona Province talking. Link, Rusl, Mayor Bo, Ilia, Uli, Faro and those others who's names I couldn't remember. They seemed to be arguing over me. Rusl, Bo, Ilia, Uli, Faro, and that shopkeeper lady said I might be useful to the village if I work. While Link, that woman, and the husbands thought I should "pack my stuff and go off on my horse". I thought this was ridiculous of course; I didn't have a horse and I was certain that I didn't have anything with me. But then I remembered Link said something about a horse, sword, and bow.

I made a small yelp of joy, but I covered my mouth before I could have a full out fangirl squeal. Only Ilia heard me, and I caught eyes with her. She seemed much nicer in person than through a third-person video game. But I ducked anyway.

A small mirror caught my eye, and I decided to take a look. I realized I had perfect vision for the first time, which I admit was stupid. I looked like my ideal version of myself: longer and mahogany colored hair, my natural red highlights more noticeable, forest green eyes, a nice tan, my freckles more noticeable, and less puffy and paler lips – I always hated my bright pink and big lips -. I almost looked…..beautiful. I would have never associated green eyes and dark brown hair as beautiful, but Link had brown and blue, so it wasn't that different….was it? Anyway, I pushed my hair behind my right ear, and got one of the biggest shocks of my life: Hylian ears, with earrings identical to Link's, only in the same green hue as my eyes.

Apparently the legend that their ears are pointed to hear the gods is true, because I heard a heavenly male voice say, "Ask any you shall receive. Fight in my name, and convert as many as possible. Their gods are real in this world. Those who fail to be converted will be in a version of limbo. Neither heaven nor hell, but smaller versions of each."

You might as well know the difference between heavenly male voices and beautiful male voices. Heavenly is like thunder booming in your ears, ready to burst them but somehow calms them at the same time. Beautiful is like…..think of your average Mexican boy voice. Personally, I can't tell the difference between them by their voice alone. I can with other races though…..why did I just tell you that?…..anyway! Like a white boy that just got out of puberty, but who's voice only got slightly deeper. Not enough to be still childish, but can't be called manly at the same time.

Quicker than I expected, I responded with, "Why did you make Gods in this world Lord?"

"Because it was necessary for you to have this adventure. Link is the 'Hero chosen by the _Gods_.' I could have made it God, but the story of how this land was created would not have been the same, would it daughter?"

"No Lord, it wouldn't"

* * *

><p>Yay! Done! Does it stink?<p>

Layla is technically myself, just a different name. PLEASE tell me if I become too Mary Suesish. I don't want that :'(

Yes, the race thing is true, and I do wonder why I put that ^^ -shotshotshotshotshot- No offence to anybody. I'm half Mexican and Caucasian, so yeah….


	2. Meetings and Annoyances

Nagara: Number two!

Midna: Go do your homework, and the title stinks

Nagara: Since you're so concerned, do it for me! And why dont you come up with a better one while you're at it?

Midna: I'm not drawing a self-portrait of you, and I'm too lazy to come up with a better title

Nagara: Exactly, so why don't you just do the disclaimer?

Midna: UUUUGGHHH! Nagara only owns the concept and her OC. Everything else is either LoZ, or whatever she references. That stuff belongs to its respective owners. There, I did it!

Nagara: Good imp

Midna: DON'T CALL ME THAT!

Nagara: Y'know, since I'm too lazy to finish TP, you're still in imp form as far as I'm aware of.

Midna: -notices she's in imp form- NNNNOOOOO!

* * *

><p>I climbed down to the bottom level of Link's Tree house and went out the door, everyone looked at me like I was some type of princess – no surprise with how I dressed – but it changed when I jumped down the ledge to the ground, keeping the skirt from going up of course. The first to approach me was Bo, and he said, "Link says your name is Layla, and that you knew his name before he even said it, and he quoted that you said, 'I know things about Hyrule I shouldn't know.' Is this all true?"<p>

I kept my head held high and replied with, "Yes, I deny none of it."

"Heh, your interesting girl. So tell me, where are you from? A troupe of psychics?"

He made my blood run cold. So I asked, "Do I have to answer that?" The murmurs of distrust rippled the group, so I quickly added, " No one will be looking for me, that I can promise on my life."

Rusl said, "That only makes us want to know more."

But to my shock, Ilia stepped in and defended me, saying, "She has no reason to say where she's from if she doesn't want to."

I gave her a smile of thank you, and said, referring to everyone, "Are you going to send me off, or can I live in Ordon. I could go to other places, but this village was the most appealing to me."

The shopkeeper lady – SERA! That's her name - said, "Of course you can stay!" But her husband muttered something about causing trouble.

Bo silenced them, and turned to me and said, "That depends on how you act. You already seem like a smart aleck, so change your attitude, and help out. We'll give you a job eventually." He sounded friendly, even though he seemed to be chastising me. With that he turned and left. The others except Rusl, Ilia, and Link left as well.

Rusl asked me, "You seem like a strong girl, both head wise and physically. On top of that, you have a sword. Do you know how to use it?"

I laughed on the inside when he said I'm headstrong, but I replied with eagerness in my voice, "I don't know how and I would love to learn."

This pleased him, and he left. Then Ilia spoke, and said, "You want to see your horse now? She's with Epona, Link's horse, at Ordon Spring."

Of course I did, but I said in my normal sassy-ish way, "I don't have a horse; I never have. But…" I trailed off for a second. I knew saying my God gave me a horse they would think I'm insane, but I needed friends, so I made up a story. I crossed my fingers and prepared to tell a lie. A lie with the best intentions. "Maybe your referring to one of the kidnappers horses. I don't want to say where I'm from, but I was kidnapped. Some mercenaries attacked them; the horse I was tied too was spooked, my bindings loosened excluding one around my ankle, and I was knocked out. Next thing I remember I woke up in your house." Referring to Link.

Link spoke next. "That makes sense. I found you hanging upside-down on your horse unconscious. There were rope burns on your wrists and ankles. I treated them."

Did the Lord plant that story in my head, and placed me into this world to make it true? He must have. I gave Link quick thanks, and then Ilia said, "C'mon, I'll show you to her. Your new horse is very beautiful."

Ilia walked ahead, and I walked side-by-side with Link. I said to him, "I promise at some point everything about me will be explained to you. Maybe even the village children. Now I can't do it, but I will. Do you trust me?" I hoped he didn't notice the desperate air in my voice. I wanted him to trust me, sooner rather than later. If the mark on my hand really was a mark that God(s) chose me, then I will be transformed into an animal along with Link, so I'd be having the Twilight Princess adventure with him. Trusting me sooner would make thing easier emotionally as a group along with Midna.

Link responded with a grunt at first, so I was a little worried, but then he said, "As long as you don't shoot me with an arrow, or impale me with a sword, or even that machete, I'll trust you eventually."

I thought to myself, "Sweet! I have a giant knife!" But I dismissed that thought. I was feeling so smug, I said, "Now why would I shoot you with an arrow? Why stain it before it's really needed? And also…..my sword is too good for you." He gave me a look that killed me a little on the inside, so I flinched a little and said, "Sorry. I'm kidding, I'm sarcastic, I'm an idiot, however you want to look at it. I honestly don't know how to use a sword or do archery. And I've certainly don't want to kill with a machete. Too personal and close up; would cover me in blood."

He gave me another dirty look. I started to think maybe we weren't meant to be together. Most fanfic interpretations of Link make him friendly, but if this one was friendly, I was clearly rubbing him the wrong way. It takes a week to hate someone, but a year to repair a relationship. And I didn't have that time.

Ordon Forest is _nothing_ like it is in the game. It's the size of a real forest. There were various paths, obscure-looking flowers, and I saw wildlife hide from us. There were deer, squirrels, rabbits, raccoons, and foxes. I heard a wolf too, but I didn't see one.

The walk to the spring was clearly taking more time than in the game, so I ran ahead to talk to Ilia. She of all people had to be nice. After all, I liked her as a character a little more than Link. She rescues a Zora boy after all. I trotted up and said, "What'd you do in the village?" I assumed this was a valid question. She was like, what? Fifteen? Sixteen? She had to work. And I would probably be working with her. Unless that little plan formulated in my head long ago was to come true.

She gave me the expected answer, "I watch the kids most of the time. Uli says I have a natural maternal gift. Do you?"

"No, I can't be around kids. I'm too hard on them, always expecting them to act older than they are. I'd rather be around animals. I can't judge them to be any better, because they're at their best if treated right." This was my honest answer. I hated teaching kids, 'cause I can't tell if they're doing well for their age or not

"Hmmm. I see your point. Does that mean no kids for you?" She said jokingly.

So I replied jokingly, "That's the definite truth. Besides, the idea of becoming pregnant scares me a little." I was serious with the last sentence, and Ilia clearly understood, because she said she feels the same way, and is always embarrassed when Link is around when she's "expelling blood" – great…..I have to deal with that here too -.

We reach Ordon Spring, and I see two horses. One is a beautiful and strong chestnut mare, but the other is a white, black, and brown paint mare. Epona is the size of an average horse plus one half. Mine was the average horse plus one third. Either way, both were large horses. I was thrilled; paint was my favorite pelt pattern on a horse. I thought it made them seem like wild mustangs. Plus, this one had a beautiful, almost heavenly saddle, and reigns. I wanted to run up to her, but knew it might spook the horse. I calmly approached, and put my hand on her nose. She seemed to like me; she let out a whinny and shook her mane.

Link came up to me before Ilia and said; "I would think this horse knew you from long ago. You know how to ride I assume?"

I was a little confused. I knew how, but it's been years, so I might not do it correctly. So I turned to him and said, "Yeah, but its been a long time since I have, and I don't count the kidnapping as riding a horse, more like being tied to its back. But no time to learn like the present." I grabbed her reins, threw my leg over, and managed to hoist myself up without hurting her.

They were clearly impressed, and Ilia said, "She's yours now. What're you going to name her?"

That was a good question….what was I going to name her? Obviously a biblical figure, but which one? Suddenly, a name popped in my head, _Sapphira_. I had never heard of her, - excluding the dragon character from _Eragon_ - but it fit. "Sapphira. That's her name."

Link replied first with, "Sapphira….why not Sapphire in that case?"

Whoop-de-flippin-do. He disproves of me. Well….so what? "Sapphira is more interesting, and I think it's beautiful. What's it to you?" Link was getting on my nerves. Oh well…his disposition of me will change, whether he likes it or not.

Ilia stepped in to defend me. She could sound pretty fierce. "Link come on. What the hell's with you? You volunteered you house for her to rest in; you carried her to that platform, and now you're commenting on how she names her horse. First it seemed you were stricken with how pretty she is, and two hours later, you hate her. What the hell's your problem? "

Hearing Ilia swear was a little shocking. It didn't sound right in her light and airy voice. Hearing her defend me was music to my ears. It seemed like she wanted to be my friend, but we barely even knew each other. Well…..technically…I knew her fairly well…..like the fact she was most likely in love with Link 'cause of that childhood sweetheart theory thingy. Thinking about that made me not want to take him away from her, whether by feelings of the future adventure. But one was going to happen, and I wouldn't prevent even if it were the death of me.

I decide to ignore them and control Sapphira. "Well no time like the present to see if I can do this." I say much more cheerfully than I normally would. In the split second before I make Sapphira go, I realize my voice isn't deep like it normally is 'cause of my allergies. It's lighter, younger sounding than I was, but rugged with aggression at the same time. It was my ideal voice. I give the reigns a slight whip and Sapphira starts walking, I see the gate is open, so I kick her side and she trots down the bridge, another kick, reign whip, and a "Hyyaaaah!" she runs. I give a slight tug on the reigns, and with a whinny and rear, she stops. I turn her around to see Link and Ilia on Epona at the other end of the bridge.

"You're a natural!" yells Link. Hearing him actually approving me makes my heart beat faster. He backed Epona up, for there was no room to turn her around, and the horses went back towards the village.

* * *

><p>Ok, I really have learned how to ride horses, but it was a LONG time ago, so if getting them to go is incorrect, sorry. I appreciate any criticism, I want to be a better writer, and avoid any Mary Sue-ism, so PLEASE tell me!<p>

PS, Sapphira is the wife of Ananias in the bible. I flipped to my index, and the first half of the first definition is "husband of Sapphira" And yes, I know that the character from the Eragon books has only one p


	3. Stupid Revealings and Weapons

Nagara: Sorry I couldn't get this in sooner folks. I had a homework overload. And trying to fit in time to not go insane, updating kinda got put off…

Midna: Stop breaking the forth wall and show your hand!

Nagara: Fine! –epically brings down "hand"- FOUR OF A KIND!

Midna: Damn it! – folds hand –

Nagara: Hand it over…

Midna: nooo…- hands over helmet/Fused Shadow –

Nagara: Sweet. – puts it in room - One more game. Whoever loses has to do the disclaimer.

Midna: Oh you're on!

-one poker game later-

Nagara: UUUGGHH! I don't own anything involving LoZ, except the games I have. In this case, I only own the concept and my OC/myself. The songs I reference belong to whoever owns them. On with the show…

* * *

><p>By now it was around midday, and Ilia suggests I try out the stuff the "kidnappers left of Sapphira." So we did. Link had his wooden sword with him, so I suggested a dual to judge my skill, but he disagrees. One look at my sword and I see his point.<p>

It was stunning. I would have called it a rapier due to the hilt design, but the blade was too thick to be a rapier. It was really just a thin-bladed sword.

The blade was about as thin as my arm – and for someone with minimal upper arm strength, but not skin and bones, this is thin – and double-edged. The sword's blade was almost white instead of steel gray. The hilt was gold in color and was the Christian Cross lavishly decorated with scenes of Jesus' life on one side, and my fake life on the other. The blade's –apparently – quillian made up the arm parts of a cross. The part of the sword that attaches to the hilt is called the rain guard. On mine was the hall, A set of wings was the hand cover. There was a forest green gem on the pommel. A close look, and the mark was etched in the gem. The other side had a blue gem though, and the Triforce was etched in.

After quick thinking, I figured it was because of the nature of the Triforce. The holders are Goddess chosen, and I am God chosen. The only difference being my God is more powerful. I figured that Ganondorf, Zelda, Link, and myself are the only ones that can wield the blade.

The sword was perfect in my right hand, almost like the sword wanted to be there, and was thankful when it was. Maybe it was because it was a three-dimensional representation of the mark on my right hand. Minus the sword obviously.

Link and Ilia begged me to tell them where I'm from, believing I must be from some village with the best sword makers ever, so I thought to myself, "Sooner rather than later…"

"I'm from an alternate world. The story of the kidnappers was false. I'm sorry I lied, but nobody would have believed me. See…this world is a fantasy where I come from, a dream many want to enter. By the grace of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit, I entered it….."

They stared at me like for a while, looked at each other for a while, and looked back at me. They looked at me like I'm insane – _obviously_ – and finally Link speaks, "I would believe you, but I need a little more to understand."

"Me too." Agreed Ilia.

My spirits dropped a little. This was understandable, but still made me sad. Ilia spoke first, asking, "What's the father, son, and spirit?"

Understandable question, so I explained it. "This requires a lot of back story, do you want to hear it all?" They shared a look and nodded, so I gave a sigh and explained it all. "My world is full of chaos. There are many leaders of what we call countries, kingdoms, empires, and provinces among other titles. Some are good, some are bad, and some are plain stupid. Many countries have a main religion that is shared by most in that area. Not all, but most. There're like…hundreds of religions. Mine religion is ruled by one God. A God who made the world in seven days, and then made Man in his likeness. He saw man was lonely and made Woman, and all are descended from these two, Adam and Eve.

"God also made Angels: winged being of pureness. One thought himself better than God, and became Satan: the Devil. He took the Angels that agreed with him: the Demons, to live in a fiery lake: Hell. While the angels and God lived in Paradise: Heaven. Satan told Eve to go against what God said not to do, and thus sin was brought into the world.

"To cleanse the world, God placed his likeness inside a Virgin woman, and thus Jesus was born. Jesus is God, but God is referred to as the Father, and Jesus the Son. God sent Jesus to die. A custom of this early version of my religion was to sacrifice an animal for many purposes, the most common being to forgive God for sins. Jesus died and was dubbed the Last Sacrifice. When Jesus died, the sky darkened, the earth cracked, and the royal tapestries in the temples ripped.

"Three days later, he rose from the grave, as was foretold. When he left to be with his Father in Heaven, the Holy Spirit came to the world to guide us. Less religiously it is called the conscience." I looked at them with a slight plea in my eyes "I believe in this because there is a book that is only the truth, my Holy Book, the Bible." Then I gave myself a mental punch. I just revealed ninety-nine percent of my story, after a couple hours in Hyrule. I felt dumb, very dumb.

They took time to take it all in, and when they exchanged another look, it was clear; they thought my religion was stupid. Ilia spoke first. "One god creating the whole world? C'mon, that isn't possible….is it?

"Well of course it's possible. Imagine all your Gods, each with their individual tasks, combined into one all-powerful being. Who doesn't require sacrifices anymore, who will forgive once you ask for forgiveness, and who loves even those who hate him." I hoped by saying these things they would see my religion on a practical standpoint, not on an ethical, though it needed to be ethical at some point.

Link spoke next. "Your not lying, but religion is deceptive; one is true and the others are fake. This is not some type of idea that comes with a concussion. And if there really was a man that, when he died, these things happened, news would have spread, even to the farthest-reaching countries and kingdoms. If Hyrule never heard of this, then it was either too far to reach, or you really are from a different world. If this world really was created for you…..then yours must be true." Thunder boomed in the distance, possibly their gods showing anger.

I would've chuckled with that, but the mood was too serious now. "Actually it isn't like that. My God made this world where your Gods and Goddesses are just as real as he is. There is a heaven here and a hell….just not as powerful as mine. But don't think that means mine isn't real!" I said the first part calmly, but the last sentence was my usual fire and ice.

"Why?" That came from Ilia, who was clearly more captivated with my religion than Link. He was too busy trying to find the source of the thunder. I had no choice but to smirk at him, and when Ilia looked at him, we shared that girly giggle I hate soooooo much. I mentally punched myself in the breast for it. After clearing my throat, I answered Ilia's question

" 'Cause of your legends I guess. Goddesses granted power to three individuals is definitely true, so…I don't know, I guess it wouldn't have been the same for me to experience this if it wasn't the way it was." I made up. Well…..I didn't make it up, it was the best expiation I could think of.

"WHAT?" Was Links reply. He was still trying to find the thunder, and managed to absent-mindingly walk almost to the village. I laughed so hard I fell down. Ilia followed me down laughing, whether by Link or me I really didn't care. I saw him turn bright red and walk over. I regained my composure first, and caught my breath while Link just stared at Ilia. It made me laugh even more. I'm surprised not all of Link's blood was in his face, He was as bloodred as physically possible now. Which, of course, made me laugh even more.

Tears were streaming down my face from my laughter, and eventually, Ilia and I regained our composure. Amazingly at the same time. Link awkwardly cleared his throat, and said, "Well….now that you two are done…..what about your ears? Only Hylians and Sheikahs have pointed ears. You're not from our world, the Sheikahs are extinct, so neither make sense."

He had a good point. I just replied with what made sense to me. "God altered my ears to fit in. At least, that's what I assume. Honestly, I have no definite explanation." Then I realized he said only Hylians and Sheikahs have pointed ears. Dumb point, but he probably never heard of the Kokiris or Lokomos, or any of the other races with pointed ears. Well...those two don't exist in this Hyrule, so maybe he wasn't so stupid with the ears thing.

They muttered something I couldn't make out, but then Link said, "Now…wanna try out your bow now?"

"Yep," was my reply, and I grabbed the bow and quiver of arrows out of this pack in front of Link's house.

There were targets in the trees before I arrived, so I used those. "For my aim practice." Was Link's reason. To prove it, he picked up a rock and hit the bulls-eye on one. I admit it was impressive.

I held the bow how I thought it was supposed to be held, docked the arrow how I thought I was supposed to, and let go.

If anybody were standing two inches in front of me, they would have found an arrow imbedded in their foot. Actually, they would have found an arrow scratch their foot, and then bounce off. Thus proving I am not a Mary Sue. If I was, I would've hit a target, and it would've gone through and hit an apple or something.

Well…..there went my idea of being a huntress. It would take time to teach myself archery, but I was up for it. I knew this life would be harder and less comfortable than my old life, but that was one of the reasons I wanted to come here, for a challenge.

Link gave me a look of sorry. "You did everything right as far as I'm aware of. There was enough force pulling the arrow back, so maybe you're just not a natural." I gave him a death look, so he added, "You're an unnatural! Yeah! You can learn!" Being called unnatural is offensive no matter how it's put, so that didn't make me feel better. What did was the fact Link seemed to like me now.

Of course Ilia spoke first. "Wow Link…..you have a way with girls, don't you? You give them the most amazing compliments they look at you with nothing but adoration. I feel like swooning at the thought." Hearing how sarcastic Ilia is made me feel better. Now I knew how she kept Link in line. Then she proceeded to punch him in the arm.

"Ilia, you would fit in great where I'm from." I said. "There should be portals to each world, and next to my world's portal there should be a sign that says 'Sarcastic People Welcome.'"

That comment lightened the mood again, and we all laughed. Then the village children came to the clearing. Assuming I awoke the second time at eleven, it must be one by now, so it would've been a good time to thoroughly meet them.

Colin was in the front, with Beth and Talo behind him, and Malo slightly farther away. Seeing my bow in hand and quiver on my back brought Talo and Beth running…..over Colin. With Malo walking by, and giving a glance at Colin, who was sprawled out on the ground. My first instinct was to ignore the others and help Colin, but I knew it might alter the course of the future. I greeted the faster ones first. Well, actually they greeted me. Talo said, "Wow! You have a bow! And I hear an amazing sword too! Plus a machete!

"Like weapons don't you?"

"You bet! Nothing beats the thrill of holding a sword!"

"Ever though about turning a stick into a sword?"

"What a great idea! I'll find a good one!" With that, Talo ran off, to find the stick that would become his iconic toy sword.

Next to talk was Beth. "You have a beautiful dress. Are you engaged to a nobleman or are you a noblewoman?"

I swear the engaged comment made me turn red. I was fifteen! Ilia was older than me, and she hadn't been engaged, there was no chance I was!….was there? Beth chuckled at my newfound skin color, but I came up with a story. "I was a part of a troupe that had various skills. Some were thieves, so everyone dressed in the best clothing." I gave a look to Link and Ilia that said, "Don't give me away!" They gave a slight nod of understanding.

Beth said, "A troupe? Oh cool! What was your skill?"

"I sang." I didn't even think, I just answered her. I couldn't sing for my life! Well…there was one time when I could, but then my allergies developed. At that point I realized that if my voice was clear, maybe I could sing again. "Lord let me be able to sing again." I gave a silent prayer.

"Sing something for us." This came out of Link, surprisingly.

Knowing better than to deny, I sang the chorus of one of my favorite songs, Last Night by Skillet. "This is the last night you'll spend alone. Look me in the eye so I know you know I'm everywhere, you want me to be. The last night you'll spend alone. I'll wrap you in my arms and I wont let go. I'm everything you need me to be." Oh my God! It was beautiful! Let me not be tone-deft….

There was a silence for a couple seconds, and then Beth said, "Wow! What a beautiful verse! You need to teach me that song!"

"Maybe someday."

And Beth ran off, trying to remember what I just sang for her. "This is a- no…this is the last night you'll spread-….no!"

I couldn't help but laugh at her predicament. But realized there were lots of songs I wanted to sing, if my fantasies played out in the correct way, and Beth wouldn't stop till she knew them all.

Colin was going to speak, when Talo ran out from the path to the forest, holding a stick. "Yeah! My very own sword! C'mon Malo, lets try it out!" With that, Malo walked off in the direction of the village, while Talo ran.

Colin finally got his chance to speak. "How long will you be in the village?" The way he spoke unnerved me. He seemed afraid of me. Like he wanted me to say, "Oh until the sun goes down tomorrow." Maybe even sooner. But I had to tell the truth in this case. "I want to stay as long as I am accepted. I have nowhere else to go." Colin gave me a look of pure fear and ran towards the village.

It broke my heart a little. "Am I that intimidating?" I asked Link and Ilia.

"No. Colin just isn't brave. I don't understand it." Was Links explanation. "His father was a soldier for a while before he retired to raise his family. Uli's braver than her son – not by much but she is-. It saddens us." "Us" being he and Ilia…..I think, could be everybody.

"Well…..courage is found. Some find it in a traumatic event, some find it before they're born, and some find much, much later than others. Let's hope for his sake it's the last option." I was a little shocked at what I said. It was much wiser than a fifteen-year-old. I was mature for my age, but that was something else that just came out.

"Maybe," was all that came out of both Link and Ilia's mouths, at the same time.

"Well….let's see what my new line of work is." I quickly changed the subject, something I specialize in.

* * *

><p>Well this chapter is flipping long. But who else would think about playing poker w Midna in the author's notes, right? :D

I'm sorry to whoever hates me for the religious stuff. I know I'll get flamed for it, but I didn't see anywhere it said I couldn't in the terms and agreements. If a lot of people hate me for this, I can take the story off.

Well, yeah might as well explain stuff now. I don't know if that kind of sword design is possible, but if it was, that would be epic. Ganondorf, Zelda, and Link are all capable of wielding the blade, but I don't plan for any of them too. Maybe Link, but I doubt it. I LOVE Last Night by Skillet. That song is epic. Go listen to it nao. Don't ask why I made Ilia like Midna. I type, and that's what came out. Midna is cooler though, and I ship for LinkXMidna, so maybe that's why I think he fell for her. She's a better character, but still like his childhood sweetheart.


	4. New Stuff

Link: "Where are you two? –sees note on floor – What's this?"

_Link,_

_The two of us were bored and appalled that you didn't come around sooner, so we stole your stuff to sell. With the money, we're going to Red Lobster, and then In-'n-Out. Don't bother looking for us, by the time you get this, we should have sold the: Dominion Rod, Ball and Chain, and Hero Bow. Don't worry though, we promise to get you a Neapolitan shake at in-n-out. But we wont give it to you if you don't do the disclaimer. And don't bother lying about doing it, we can tell if you did or not. Yeah, you're that readable. "_Wow…_ " So see ya in a while._

_Nagara_

_Screw that, MIDNA WAS HERE!_

_Ps, don't do anything like –insert disclaimer here- crap. You better do it right. I did._

_Midna_

Link: "Gods. Well, this chap is basically pointless and you readers already know the stuff about rights. There're a lot of songs talked about, so those belong to the artists and whatever."

* * *

><p>Nagara here. Just saying that the village placement is based off the Wii version.<p>

The chaps just keep getting bigger...

And now, our featured presentation.

* * *

><p>Link let me tie Sapphira to a young tree by his house, and we walked to the village. I realized that the world was still animated, like in the game. It didn't look real right away. But then it did. I knew it was my subconscious playing tricks on me. I would live here for the rest of my life, so my mind changed my vision so it looked like it would in the real world. One of my gifts from the real world: I knew how my mind worked before I learned how it worked, so I didn't bat an eyelid on the subject.<p>

The village was much larger bustled more than I thought it would. The wives were all gossiping, the men…talking, kids playing, cuccos making noise, and that dog chasing that cat. It was nice, not amazing, just nice. I recognized some stuff from the game, but most of it wasn't there in the game. It had tens of houses. I could barely tell it was Ordon village. There were characters that I didn't recognize too.

I might as well tell you what it looked like now. The important stuff was in the same place, like Bo's house, the river, where the water builds up – which I'll call the pond, even though I know its not - the shop, and I think Rusl's house, but the place in the game where its just rocks and the river, there was the village. I could see some signs; there was an anvil, a shoe, and a spinning wheel as I could see. I realized that was where the artisans lived. Best guess, this area was about the size of the Castle Town in the game. It was shocking to see the village so big.

Seeing me, most of the adult villagers I did recognize walked over – Link and Ilia explained that they were the "heads of the village, " and that the artisans didn't care about anything except making money off travelers -.

Bo spoke first. "How would you like to be a herder with Link? Having a horse and all could help out. Besides, you and Link could do the work in half the time." This was a little bit of a shock to me. I thought I would be working in the store, or farm the pumpkins, maybe even milk the goats – well…..if Link herded, that's probably what Faro did -. Herding? I dismissed the thought once it crossed my mind. Knowing better to argue, I replied with, "If that is my designated work, than I shall do it."

This pleased everybody, and then the second question came up, "Where will you live?" Bo asked this, and I honestly had no idea. I would be content to sleep in a tent. Living with anyone scared me a little. I learned what happened when men kidnapped girls in my world. Living with one in this world? Was there a difference? I was sure these men were too honorable, but still…

"Why she can live with me!" This booming female voice was Sera. I realized this was the best option. He husband seemed too….passive to do _that which I feared_. Besides, if I'm a good enough houseguest, maybe I could be like at the adopted daughter status, and get discounts on milk! Wait…..goat milk…ohhhhhh.

"Thank you. I will try not to be a bother." I knew how to sound proper. I just only did it when it was of benefit to me. That's why I sound so harsh around people my age.

"Nonsense dearie, you can eat all you want, which I'm sure you want to do now," said Sara. I realized she was right. I was starving. Right when I opened my mouth to deny food, a gurgling sound escaped. Whether this was my stomach or my general gut, it made everybody laugh, including me. "Well now, you defiantly need something. Come along dearie."

Being lead like I was seven annoyed me a little, but I followed her anyway. She prepared some Greengill Chowder with a glass of goat milk. Rich stuff. "Fatten you up. What did they feed you where you're from?"

She had a valid question. I was fifteen, five foot six, and weighed about one hundred-fifteen pounds. I was fairly tall, but skinny. "A lot. I'm active though, so I don't gain weight that much. I eat a whole lot about once a month, and gain about three pounds." Let them use that measurement system…..

"Dear me! You need to eat more!" She commented. Seems like they use that system.

"No thanks, I'm fine how I am. I eat when I'm hungry, and I move on."

"Well, if you insist."

I finished the soup, which tasted like clam chowder, my favorite back home, and turned to the milk. I've heard many things about goat milk and cheese, but I knew it would be rude to deny drinking it. I swallowed my pride first, and took a gulp. It tasted like cream. Which was fine, but it was so rich I had a little trouble getting in down, and I like rich stuff. But I finished it anyway. "Thank you for the meal. I'll try to feed myself more often," still trying to be polite.

"Nonsense dearie! I own the shop! I can spare three extra mouths!" That was true. Instead of four things of merchandise, she also sold pumpkins, and apples, and eggs, and material, and pastries, and coffee and well…..everything a traveler would need. Looks like the game creators were too lazy to add stuff for purchase.

After leaving my new house, I ran over to where Link and Ilia were waiting for me. "Well…now what?" That's all I could think of saying. Normally I would suggest swimming, but it seemed to be the end of winter, not the most idea time to swim, since its still cold. Fishing? Link hasn't gotten a fishing rod yet. Horse race? Leaving Ilia out wasn't a good idea. _Goat_ races? Sounded like fun, but not my place to suggest.

"Normally we would go swimming, but it's too cold. Besides, it's probably not a good idea for you to swim in an expensive dress," said Link. I realized he was right. I was still wearing that warm red dress. Emphasis on warm. It was either made of fur or velvet.

"Well…..can you guys teach me to whistle a piece of grass?" This was a good idea in my eyes. I couldn't, and it would make whistling hawk and horse grass easier.

"Sure," they replied at the same time. We each picked a long piece of grass, and I practiced. Took me an hour strait to make a sound not air or my mouth on my hand. By around three, I could do it. Then Link said, "Now lets try horse grass." And he ran in the direction of the ranch.

I looked at Ilia and said, "Well better horse than hawk. The hawk's talons might wreck my dress." Under normal circumstances, I would want my dress to get wrecked, 'cause I hated wearing dresses, but it was so _warm_ that I couldn't see it destroyed if I could help it.

"That reminds me, you need to get work clothes. That dress is too good to get caked in goat manure." She was right of course, but we laughed at the goat comment.

When Link came back with the grass, he gave it to me, and the two of them watched me try to blow on it. I was somewhat successful, making noise, but is tuneless. Epona's song in the grass is short high, short medium, long low, short high, short medium, long low. My sound came out like, short low, long screech, long low, long flat. "Well…..more practice?" That was all I could say about the sound.

Ilia looked at me with slight pity, and Link was more like, "what the hell was that." Ilia spoke first, after looking at Link, "Definitely, and when this guy isn't around." Ilia was much harsher in "real life," if one could call this real. She was sorta like Midna…..

I smirked and tried to give the look in my eyes that said, "Like I care what he thinks." I tried again, and it came out perfect. The sounds were short low, long high, long low, long medium, short high, short medium, long low, short high. With that, there was this hysterical neighing and whinnying. We ran over to see it was Sapphire trying to escape. I approached her from the side, and managed to calm her down.

"Good job," was all that Link said to me. I noticed he didn't speak much, but it didn't really matter.

Then Ilia said, "Good job? Great job! Really Link, you're not yourself, is something bugging you?"

Ilia had a point. This just didn't seem like any interpretation of Link. At least….any that made sense. But Link just shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. This bugged me a little, but hopefully I didn't show it.

Then I said, "Well here begs the all important question: now what?"

"No idea," came out of Ilia first.

"….What do you guys normally do?" That was the simplest question possible for me to ask.

"Race goats, but they've been penned up already." Link's response sunk my heart a little. "Already penned," it was probably three-thirty in the afternoon!

Ilia spoke next. "I know! C'mon Layla, lets teach Link how to sew girl clothes!" This made Link turn _really_ red.

I awkwardly replied with, "Uh…..you'd be teaching me while teaching him. I don't know how to sew, knit, crochet or anything."

"Oh…..well I can teach you both at the same time. C'mon!" Ilia lead us to her house, and found some stray fabric.

Lets say….sewing was something else I was an unnatural about. There were big gaps, the thread snapped; everything went wrong when I did it. Not much better for Link. Eventually, Ilia had to make the outfit. It was calming to watch her sew, probably because she was good at it, and I, competitive as I am, had no reason to be jealous. An hour later, she was done. Just a simple dress for me to slip on. "Try it on! Link, go away," was what Ilia said when she was done. I had to snicker with what she said to Link. Not hurt or anything, he walked out the door. I was glad to have underclothes on, so taking off the red dress didn't get in the way with my modesty. The dress looked fine on me. It was just a simple off-white dress. Ilia explained humans usually wore farm clothes; Hylian females usually wore slip-on dresses, and males wore long pants and a tunic. I asked why Link didn't wear that. Ilia said it was 'cause that's what the villagers – excluding herself – wore.

After examining myself in the mirror, I said, "Thank you Ilia, I really like it, but won't wearing a dress affect how well I ride while herding?" I knew it was difficult to ride in a dress. I did it earlier, but this dress was shorter, only coming to my knees. It would restrict mobility, I knew that much. I sat on a chair in her room, and showed how it rode up too my thigh

"Yeah, your right…do you have any rupees? We need to buy more fabric at Sera's shop. Besides….."She had this mischievous flicker in her eyes. "You owe me for that fabric and labor charge."

We laughed for a couple seconds, then I said, "If I do, its in the pack. Lets find out. And if I don't….."I had a flicker in my eyes. I proceeded to lavishly bow. "I shall be your servant until the cost is paid off."

We laughed even more, and Ilia said, "Well, I hate doing my chores, so a servant would be nice. Now I wanna find out! Lets go!"

We ran out of the house, and Ilia grabbed Link by the wrist and dragged him along. Digging through my pack, I found five red rupees. I gave one to Ilia. "Here is payment for the fabric and labor. I shall pay the remainder of the labor after the outfit is finished," I said in a business-like tone, which caused a chuckle to pass between our group.

We – well, Ilia and I ran, Link was dragged – ran to Sera's shop. Walking in, Sera said, "Well dearies, what can I do for you? Oh Layla! That dress looks good on you! But it's a little short…"

"We know." I presented one red rupee. "Can we have about…four yards?" I looked at Ilia, not knowing how much fabric to buy. She nodded. "Of fabric. Anything durable, if you have more than one type."

Sera came back from her storeroom with a seemingly more durable fabric. She cut four yards, and gave it to me. "Here you go dearie, but its forty rupees for four yards."

Ten rupees per yard. Outrageous! Ilia charged two and a half per yard! I gave her another rupee, which left me with two red rupees. Forty total. Ilia and I went back to her house, while Link went to tend to Epona.

It would've been around four-thirty when Ilia finished making pants for me. They felt like flare jeans on me. She cut off some of the material from the dress to make it into a long shirt. The extra material was wrapped around my arms. Logically to keep warm and protect from sun, but also for where a hawk would perch on my arm. It was what I wore back home, minus the material around my arms. I gave Ilia a hug to say thank you, but I coughed up one red rupee as payment, and was left with twenty rupees. But she gave me a yellow rupee as change. As this time, I only owed her for labor. So now I had thirty rupees.

I felt like stealing the purple rupee I knew was in Link's basement, but knew better; with the journey in about a year, I knew it would be a good idea to take it then.

We spent the rest of the day with Link and the horses. We killed time bathing them, feeding them, and giving them a ten-minute ride as exercise.

By the time the sun was going down, we realized we should call it a day. I grabbed my pack – which by the way was sitting in front of Link's house all day – and Ilia and I walked back to the village. I stopped in front of Beth's house, tied Sapphira to some wood Sera's husband set up for me to tie her to, and my new best friend and I went our separate ways for the night.

Walking in, I was introduced to Hanch, Sera's husband. He was meek. Nice, but meek. I ate with the family, which was the same soup that was my lunch, but this time a glass of water instead of goat milk. Hanch said he boiled it, so I assumed it was safe to drink.

After dinner, I learned how the house worked. Whoever woke up first would bring water into the house, and put it into pots over the fire for boiling. They would use the leftover water from the previous day for washing. It was simple enough for me.

Beth showed me to my bed, which was just an extra mat in her room. She didn't have a bed either, so I assumed they were only for the very wealthy. She said she was going to bed early, and ordered me not to make noise. I would've slapped her for her cheekiness, but I was a guest, and she had a right to sleep. I just left her to sleep and went outside.

Sitting on that rock by the wood – and Sapphira in this case – I looked through the contents of my pack to see what God gave me. First and foremost I should say the pack was huge. No magic that shrunk things that went in and grew when coming out.

I took a close look at my bow. It was as beautiful as my sword. The wood was whiteish-yellow in color. It was decorated with scenes from the Bible: Jesus going to heaven, Moses parting the Red Sea, how sin came to the world, and Jesus healing people, to name a few and not in any order. The bowstring seemed to be made out of animal sinew, so that wasn't special. The quiver was similar: whiteish-yellow wood, and biblical scenes. The arrows weren't special in any way. The feathers were pretty, but not heavenly. The metal tips were just that: metal. I figured it was because they would be used, and if I had special arrows, I might not want to use them, but what would I do if I ran out of normal metal arrows?

There was a shield in there too. It was a green shield; same color as my eyes. The mark on my hand and sword – and sheathe – was on the front. _"My new trademark"_ The Hylian Royal Family Crest was on it too: the Triforce and Eagle. Perhaps to prove I was on Hyrule's side. My mark alone might be interpreted as an enemy's mark. Lucky for me it was made of metal. Probably the same as my sword.

The next thing I pulled out was a packet of sorts. There was writing on it. Hylian writing, but I understood what it said: _The Lord's Songs_. I opened it, and saw it was filled with sheet music. It was the songs I listened to back home. Songs that I thought I could sing at certain times that could relate to each other. Like the day the adventure starts, I wanted to sing Courageous by Casting Crowns. The songs were even altered to fit this life. For example, Dear X by Disciple has a line that goes, "You can fire but you got no bullet," but bullet was now arrow. I hugged the book and set it down.

There were some simple things in there too. Like matches, a mirror, a hairbrush, flint rocks, a razor and blades – nice -, some bottles filled with water – which I would be recycling to fill with other stuff –. There was this gunk in there too that smelled like pumpkins and fish. The bottle said shampoo, so I'm sure that's it, but still…..

The next thing was the machete. Looked like my sword and shield with the whiteish metal, but the hilt was just made of leather. There were designs of sorts on the blade, but in the dim lighting I couldn't make it out. The lantern by the door was lit, that's how I could read the title of the songbook. But the etchings on the machete weren't legible to me. With the sun on the other side of the house, the shadow wasn't helping much.

Next was a lantern, filled to the brim in oil. I also found a bottle with oil in it. Three matches later, the lantern was burning. The lettering on the machete seemed to say, _"Abraham's Sacrificial Knife."_ I was honored to be holding the "knife" that Abraham almost used to sacrifice his son at God's command. I gave the machete a gentle hug. Then I put out the lantern, not wanting to waste the oil.

Then I pulled out another book. This one said, "_Hyrule Herbs: A Field Guide to Everything Herbal in Hyrule._ This was definitely going to be necessary for the journey; red and blue potions are available on Hyrule Field.

The last thing I pulled out was a large book. I saw the back first, so it didn't seem special to me: just a big book with leather binding. But I almost screamed in delight when I saw the title, written in gold lettering in Hylian alphabetical script: The Holy Bible. I flipped through it as fast as I could. There were detailed maps, illustrations in the animated/real format, a detailed index, insight on certain topics, subtitles for comprehension, everything I would ask for in a Bible. All in all, it was about two thousand pages, with an average Bible around one thousand five hundred pages. I knew right away I would spend a lot of time reading my three new books.

Every night back home, before I went to bed I would pray. I sent my prayer up then and there, thanking God sending me to Hyrule, for everything he gave me, and asking for his help in converting people.

It was twilight by the time I packed everything back into the bag, and I felt sad. It wasn't sadness or homesickness over leaving my old life behind – no, good riddance to that life. I refer to it as home only because saying Earth is a little awkward – or thinking about the future. I doubt it was girl hormones too. I just felt sad

"'_Tell me, do you ever feel a strange sadness as dusk falls?'"_

"_Yes…I do. Why is that?"_

* * *

><p>Somebody, PLEASE tell me if I become too Mary Sue-ish. I don't want that :( I want criticism, but I don't want to be flamed. Can anyone tell me if there's any way to make it any better? Of if I should take something away?<p>

Ps, Link never got his shake. Midna poured it on his head for doing a bad disclaimer. He also got his stuff back. He still had his master sword and pointed it at my throat if I didn't give the addresses of where the stuff was sold. The pawnshop was in for a shock, and Link, considering the shop was dedicated to Link merchandise. Being stared at by 10000 yous is aparently disturbing


	5. Learning how to Live a New Life

Nagara: I update fairly fast because I wrote this entire story beforehand. I'll update whenever I feel like it. The sequel is only two chapters in though, since I need either the game for dialogue or Youtube if I don't feel like playing the game. The thing is though my computer is super slow, so I probably wont do Youtube ever. That story might take a while.

Midna: Why did you just say that?

Nagara: What's it to you?

Midna: Jeez calm down. Nagara only owns her OC and the concept. The other stuff belongs to Nintendo, and the artists who's songs and names she mentions belong to the artists.

Link: I want a bone.

Midna and Nagara: …

Nagara: Why is he here?

Midna: He's probably waiting for an in-n-out shake

* * *

><p>Next morning started with the sun shining in my eyes. Then I realized that my mat was directly in the sun's path through the window, while Beth slept comfortably beneath the window. <em>"Selfish bi-…girl. She placed me in the sun's path. Hmm….I should thank her for that."<em> I did everything I could not to swear, even mentally. I thought about thanking her, because it was my job as a herder to get up early. Normally I could sleep with the sun in my eyes, but the sun was just a sliver in the window, and it was aimed _directly_ at my eyes, so I had to wake up.

I slipped on my shirt and pulled up my pants over my underclothes, washed myself for the day, grabbed my pack, and headed outside for the day. Breathing in the damp morning air made me feel great. I was the first one up, so I did the water chore. I untied Sapphira, tied my pack to her saddle – which by the way was just a regular saddle, but it was yellow and covered in Biblical scenes. The part that connected everything in the front had my symbol on it -, and walked her over to the Ranch. When I got there, Faro was opening up the goat pens, letting the forty or so goats roam. He saw me with Sapphira and ran over. "Hey there. We never spoke yesterday. You were too busy distracting my senior herder."

I was a little embarrassed with his senior herder comment. I knew he was joking, but it still made me feel a little guilty. "He said the goats were already penned. I don't see the problem here." I shot myself mentally for that. I just talked back to my employer on my first d-_minute_!

Lucky for me, he wasn't fazed for a minute. In fact, he laughed and said, "He-he-he you got guts girl. All right you got me. I let him off early. Now…" regaining his composure, "How's about I tell you mah name? I'm Faro. I know who you are, so we can skip your introduction." I actually didn't have a problem not saying my name, surprisingly. "Now, did Link and Ilia explain how the village works?"

"No, we were so preoccupied I forgot to ask."

"Ah don't worry about it. I'll explain while we wait for Link.

"As you know, he, myself, and you are in charge of minding the goats. Uli used to in charge of the cows, which are over there," there was a path that lead away from the ranch. I swear I heard cows too. "But when she became pregnant, I took over that job.

"Jaggle and Pergie; Talo and Malo's parents, are in charge of the pumpkins and cuccos. Ilia watches over the kids. Rusl is in charge of protecting the village, which is the second easiest job if you ask me, there's never any monster attacks." – He was going to get a big wake-up call – "Sera runs the shop. Many of the other villagers are artisans. A couple are farmers. Most of them keep to themselves, so you may not get to know them that well. And finally, Bo supervises; the easiest job"

"What about Hanch?" Sera's husband had to do some sort of work.

"He helps Sera in her shop. Well….really he runs the shop. Sera's in charge of it."

"Ah…."

"Now, here's what you and Link do. Every morning, I let the goats out. After a couple hours, you and Link round 'em back in. I let 'em out again a couple hours before sundown, and you and Link round them back in for the night" I made sense to me. The goats get a few hours of free time every day.

Just then, Link rode in on Epona. Sapphira and Epona both whinnied, almost in greeting. Faro said, "Ah Link. You missed it. I just explained everything you were supposed to explain to Layla yesterday."

He seemed a little embarrassed, but just shrugged his shoulders. We spent a couple hours riding goats, whistling grass, and grooming our horses. Eventually, we corralled the goats in. When we were done, Link said it was time for me to start sword practice.

I took my exquisite blade, its sheathe – which matched the sword, bow, shield and quiver set -, and shield out of my pack, and ran over to meet Rusl officially – I carried the sword sheathe on my hip, 'cause my back was hard to get the sword out -. He was a very friendly guy, and powerful with the sword. Since I would duel Link, I had to use a wooden sword. Mine was so well made it would've sliced through Link's wooden sword. I took to swordsmanship fairly naturally. After about three duels with Link, I managed to knock his sword out of his hand. Of course Link was going easy, but I shocked everyone watching. "Everyone" being the village kids, Ilia, Uli, and Bo.

I learned how to do the basics: horizontal, vertical, stab, spin, and jump. Of course these were for fighting monsters. I had duels…..wait I just said that…..Rusl said I advanced quickly, and asked if I had prior experience. I said I have learned how to hit the head, wrist, slice the stomach, and legs. But these were with foam swords called chumbaras. Rusl commentated that all this prior experience and now made me a formidable opponent. Let's hope I was more formidable when I was in control; and not running video game Link into bottomless pits and getting his back slashed.

By midday, I had eaten some fruit as lunch and proceeded to practice archery. I realized my problem yesterday was that even though the bow was designed for me, I just wasn't strong enough to hold it steady. I started my workout with five push-ups….hey I was tired from sword practice. I managed to do twenty total, which was my daily goal. But I took four breaks to get there.

Anyway, when I lifted my bow, I could barely hold it up. Link, Ilia, and the village kids were watching me. Link went over to help me, but I had enough strength to push him away. "If I get help on something I promised to teach myself, I'll lose some of my honor." I was a firm believer in honor, integrity, and honesty. Lying about where I was from killed me a little. He understood and backed up.

My target was the pumpkin scarecrow in front of Link's house. There was minimal wind, the target was twenty-five yards away, and I aimed. The weight of the bow and my fatigue caused problems for me. I hit the scarecrow, but I hit the stick it was standing on. I was aiming for the pumpkin head. The kids –excluding Colin – let out a groan at my lack of skill. _"Well…..I'd rather stink than be a Mary Sue. Hey…..Link's a Gary Stu."_ Realizing Link is almost perfect all the time in the games made me feel better. I had to at least try.

Hour or so and wasting the rest of my money on milk for energy, I hit my target. Talo and Beth screamed and hugged me. They looked up to me. They _really_ looked up to me! Malo didn't do anything – no surprise -. Colin just put his arms behind his back. I didn't know what that meant, but I really didn't mind. Ilia and Link just gave me approving smiles and nods.

It was around three by this time, and it was getting colder. I told them I wanted to be alone, and they all understood. I ran into my "house," grabbed my songbook, and ran to Ordon Spring. Practicing one real religion in the holy ground of another made me feel…blasphemous. But it was the nearest place to sing without being heard. I should have run to the open ground near Faron Spring.

I was singing some of the songs I already knew, when I felt myself being watched. It could have been Ordona, but I was facing the rocks, and this was behind me. I turned to the entrance, and there was nobody. Looking towards the ledge over the shortcut to the village, I saw some blue eyes. "Link, I see you. You're the only one with blue eyes, that would be stalking me, and they're fairly noticeable behind yellow grass."

I saw the eyes roll, and Link stood up. "I'm honestly surprised you can read music, especially since the singing thing was a lie."

"I used to sing in large groups, that much is true. I learned how to read music when I was around…..tenth fifteen, ninth fourteen, eighth thirteen, seventh twelve, sixth eleven, fifth ten, fourth nine, third eight, eight years old. It's actually a natural thing to be able to read music, even write it. I can't read it extensively, but I can teach you what's here."

Link nodded his head a little excitedly. I showed him what types of notes made what types of sounds, and for how long. How the notes lined up with the lyrics, and….I'd say so on, but that's about all I know.

Eventually, Link learned how to sing Tonight by tobyMac. He sounded exactly like how I heard it on the radio – the lead not the backup -. I could sing Unbreakable by Fireflight. My song was a representation on how I felt at the time: I was going to conquer this life. And if anything tried to conquer me, I would destroy that thing. Nothing was going to break me.

Ilia found us, and I made it my personal mission to teach her anything in this book that she wanted. Surprisingly for me, she picked Stand in the Rain by Superchic. That song was the exact opposite of her right at that moment. But I had a desire to sing it for her and Prince Ralis when they reached Kakariko Village. The song was a third-person view of a girl suffering, and the third-person telling her to wait it out, and "one day what's lost can be found. You stand in the rain." I wanted to sing it for them because Ilia lost her memory, and Ralis lost his family and kingdom temporarily. And in the game, they lost things but got some back as well.

Ilia sang it beautifully, no contest. There were a few songs that she wanted to learn: Never Alone by Barlow Girl, Beautiful Beautiful by Francesca Battistelli, Lost Get Found by Britt Nicole, and a couple others by female artists.

After we learned a couple, I pointed out we were probably missed by now, so we headed back to the village.

On the way, I noticed I left my bow and quiver in front of Link's house. I decided that I was rested enough to try again. Even rested I stunk. Then I realized, "If this bow was made from God, I must trust it and God." I sent up a silent prayer, and I hit the pumpkin dead on. Trying the higher targets, I hit those too. With trust, I was great! Usually I have no accuracy, but I could do it through God.

Link and Ilia were in shock at my sudden jump in skill. I told them it was God, and I honestly think they thought my religion made sense. Take that Golden Goddesses! Your heroes already have skill. I'm a hero who was given skill once asked for it!

By now it was getting a little late. The sun wasn't down, but the sky was splashed with orange and red. Link and I rounded the goats back in for the night, and the day was roughly done.

There was an hour or so left until dinnertime, so I spent this time practicing with my machete. I got decent reach with it. Light as it was, I needed to hold it with both hands for control. It was deadly, that was for sure. The white metal – I started to think it was either platinum, silver, or some heavenly metal probably heavenly – was strong. I dropped the tip straight on a rock, and the rock cracked. That amazed me to no end. A small rock, but a broken rock.

I picked up one half, and saw the inside was a brownish-gold swirl. I highly doubt it was a gem of any kind, but it was still pretty. Only weighing half an ounce or so, I put it in my pack as a memento….of what I had no idea. Maybe the learning of how powerful my weapons are? Yeah lets go with that.

Dinner was the same as yesterday, but I asked, "Do you ever eat meat in this village? Besides fish?"

Beth replied with, saying, "When a cucco dies of old age, or enough chicks have hatched to kill the older ones. Whoever's next in line for it gets it. So not that often.

"Oh…..wow you never know what you have till its gone. I'll miss meat." Everyone laughed at this, but I was serious. Usually I hate it when people laugh at me when I'm serious, but I let this one slide.

But then the great idea reformulated in my mind: be a huntress. I wanted to hunt for the village long before I came. A squirrel or a rabbit alone didn't have that much meat, but a rabbit and a squirrel together could feed a family for two days. I didn't say anything, but once I presented it to Bo, I'll see what happens from there.

I went to sleep right away. Sera's food was filling and rich. I was filled up fairly quickly. The full feeling made me tired. Before going to sleep, I told Beth to stay out of my stuff. I didn't tell her yesterday because she went to sleep first and I woke up first. She promised not to, and I didn't believe her, but I had no choice but to trust her. I sent my prayers, and fell asleep.

* * *

><p>Once again, I must ask, do the actions make Layla too Mary-Sueish? A couple people said no, and I thank you for that, but since this story is basically learning about her, there are still things she will do, that I think may become mary sue :( I do appreciate everybody who says I'm not making her a mary sue, but I still want other people's opinions.<p>

Plz don't flame me though. Constructive criticism: Yes, Flame: No.


	6. Another Day

Nagara: MAKE LINK GO AWAY!

Link: I want a milkshake to satisfy the human part, and a squirrel to satisfy the wolf part! And the title fails.

Midna: HERE! TO MAKE YOU GO AWAY! – hands shaken milk and a chew toy squirrel –

Link: That works – leaves with new stuff –

Nagara: -shudder- I only own the concept and my OC. Other stuff belongs to music artists and Nintendo.

Midna: He's was saying that nonstop for three hours…

* * *

><p>I fell asleep, and then I woke up. I couldn't see the moon, so it wasn't light that woke me up. I just woke up. It was surprising, because I had this fantasy before. Figuring it was a fantasy come true, I followed through with it.<p>

Taking off my day clothes and putting on the lovely dress, and grabbing my songbook, sword, lantern, and matches, and I headed out.

The fantasy was to sing three songs in Ordon Spring whenever I woke up in the middle of the night. I also envisioned Link hearing me pass by, and follow me. Ultimately being converted by the morals in the songs. But that would take a long time.

Realizing I might wake _someone_ in the village up by singing in Ordon Spring, I went to Faron Spring. That Coro guy was either in is house or sitting on that rock. But he slept deeply, so I wasn't worried about being discovered. Someone - excluding Link - stalking me disturbed me a little, but I could scream like the best of them, and I had a sword.

The walk was uneventful. I chose not to take Sapphira 'cause someone might hear her make noise or even her horseshoes – which by the way were regular metal -. I slowed down when passing Link's house. I actually herd him say something in his sleep. "Apple pies…cupcake…..SUGAR!" Hearing him scream "sugar" in his sleep, I almost burst out laughing. Of course I didn't, but it was hard not to. Don't get me wrong though, I did laugh. I opened my mouth in that silent laugh that happens when you're trying too hard to be quiet, or there're no words to be said, or screamed.

After walking past the bridge, I ran the distance to Faron Spring. I sang two real worship songs, Come, Now is the Time to Worship and Shine Jesus Shine. Then I sang Born Again by Newsboys. Thinking about it, I was born again. I was living a whole new life, for a whole new purpose.

~~X~~

I ran to the bridge, and walked from that point. I knew a horse could ride it, but I didn't want to make too much noise. Slowing down again, I listened in on Link. Yes, I felt stalkerish, but I was_ curious_! Anyway, this time he was just lightly snoring, so nothing special.

I walked back into my boardinghouse, and saw everybody was still asleep. I changed back into my regular clothes, and left the dress where I placed it earlier.

I woke up a little later than before. The sun was already shining on the door. I hurried through the morning at that point. I was, again, the first one up. I washed myself, did the water chore, grabbed my pack, and hurried on Sapphira. I was late, of course. Link was already on the field, whistling horse grass for Epona. I had to put on Sapphira's brakes pretty fast to not run over any goats. Nobody cared for my tardiness; 'cause there was still an hour or so till work.

After work, there was no sword practice. Link explained it was every other day. While we were riding, I took this as an opportunity to embarrass him. "Y'know, last night I couldn't sleep, so I took a walk to Faron Spring. While I passed your house, I heard something about apple pies, cupcakes, and SUGAR!" I didn't scream sugar as loud as he did. I just leaned close to his ear and yelled it in.

He turned pink, no surprise there. "You have no proof of that," was his excuse. A lame one at that.

"What would I have to gain by lying? Embarrassing you in front of Ilia? She's over there" – she was talking to Uli while the kids played – "so if it was lying, I would have said it while she was around." One of my catchphrases was, "what would I have to gain by lying?" I said that pretty much every time someone didn't believe me. Most of the time the people realized I was right and believed me, but not always.

"Well….then why'd ya tell me what I yell in my sleep?" He had a point. I just though it'd be funny, but his wasn't turning out as I planed

"Either you need to cut back on sweets, or you need to eat them more to satisfy yourself."

Epona let out a whinny, and shook her mane. "Oh no, not you too Epona!" Begged Link.

"Thanks for agreeing with me Epona!" I spoke to the horse.

We laughed at this. Ilia was busy, so Link and I waved to her while passing over the little bridge. He let me do more archery practice in front of his house, so I did. Trusting God really works! I hit every target within the inner ring surrounding the bulls-eye.

After practice, I asked Link if he would go with me to Faron Woods for something. He wasn't scared to go, but he was shocked that I wanted to. When I showed him the lantern, it seemed to encourage him that it would be fine. And besides, neither of us had anyone to say its too dangerous now.

We ran through the cave to get to the woods. There weren't any monsters, which proved they only come when Hyrule is in trouble. Twilight Realm doesn't count. I showed him the machete, and said I wanted to try and make sandals for myself and the others that were barefoot in the village. The shoemaker charged prices for shoes beyond outrageous. It was about four hundred for one _cheap _pair. Link thought it a noble gesture, but thought I couldn't do it. "Watch me succeed. Then well talk about what I can and cant do," was my reply for this idea. One of my traits: I was stubborn. I only gave up when I was too tired to continue.

I took out the machete, and started peeling tree bark. Link said the sandals were made of wicket, but I knew what I was doing. I peeled a lot of tree bark, and got a lot of vines. I knew the vines would whither up eventually, but I just wanted to see if this was possible.

In the middle of work, he asked, "What's with the earrings?" I realized yet again he was right. The design was the type used for Sheikah _men _coming of age ceremony. And I was fifteen, so it wouldn't make sense for me to have gone through this, even if I was a guy. Especially since they're basically extinct in Twilight Princess. The only possible one is Impaz.

"What about yours?" I was going to tell him I owned a pair like these back home, but I needed to know what his were for

"I pierced my ears when I turned sixteen when I heard the story of the Sheikah coming of age ceremony. Although they do it when they turn seventeen. Mine don't mean anything though, I just wanted to do it for the heck of it."

"Where I'm from, people pierce their ears whenever they want too. Some people pierce their lips, eyebrows, nose, bellybutton, and even their tongue among other parts of their body. No others come to mind though. Maybe those are the only places pierced. I had already had my ears pierced and I already owned a set of earrings like this. God let me keep em I guess."

"Oh…" Link was quiet until I finished my work. He was probably imagining what he would look like with various piercings.

I layered the bark, used tree sap to glue the layers together, cut them into the shape of a shoe, cut holes, and threaded the vines through. When I was done, I had one pair of what looked like a sandal. And Link spoiled my pride by saying, "Congratulations, you made cheep shoes."

I knew just how to prove how cheep the shoes were. I slapped Link with the sole. Sure enough, it fell apart. "Thank you test subject, for proving shoemaker is not my expertise. I'll leave that to the one that overcharges in the village."

While I kicked dust over the scraps of bark, Link rubbed his cheek, and said," Was that necessary?"

I replied with, "Yes, it was." Then I thought about playing a trick on him. I said in the sweetest and most mocking voice I could, "Does the big warrior need a girl to kiss his boo-boo?"

Link looked at me, somewhere between "what" and "are you serious". He played along, and said, "Sure, what have I got to lose?"

"Ok, close your eyes." Here's my plan: He'll give me the cheek I slapped, but I'll slap the other cheek with the other sandal.

Lucky me, he played along. He closed his eyes and thrust his red cheek out. Silently, I picked up the other sandal, stalked around him, and managed to slap his other cheek. He clearly was shocked. This shoe fell apart too. He had that look from a TV show when something similar and supposedly painful for the actor happens. "OW! What was THAT for?"

"Because I can and it and its free." That was another of my catchphrases. I got it from somewhere, but I can't remember where. Link wasn't in pain, but that look made me feel guilty. I placed my hand on his shoulder to give myself a boost, and kissed the cheek I just hit. I mentally kicked myself for it. I had tried to keep the promise to myself never to kiss or be kissed until I was engaged. This promise was really for the lips, but still…

"Better," was all that came out of Link, and we headed back. I think he understood the kiss wasn't meant to be romantic in any way, but when we caught eyes he blushed. Seems like I embarrass him a lot. It might be because he was sixteen and I was fifteen. With a one-year age difference, I was probably in the position of an adopted sister who fake-flirted a lot. I found out his age yesterday, along with Ilia being fifteen.

With the awkward walk back, I was seriously considering Link belonged with Midna or Ilia. Both were sarcastic, both fall or have fallen in love with him, and my own feelings were diminishing. This in itself didn't strike me as odd, what was striking me was the fact I was going through a time as an adolescent with a guy my age around that I didn't have a crush on. It seemed like I was going do mature backwards…or demature, or whatever. I was thinking boys were gross.

I spent the rest of my free-time reading the herbal guide and Bible. Ilia walked over with the kids at one point, and I showed them the Bible. Only Colin and Ilia could comprehend the meaning. The other…..not adults – excluding Link, we didn't talk for the rest of the day – thought it was just a story. Ilia told me she explained everything to Colin. I didn't have a problem with this, because he was really the smartest of the kids. The story of Adam and Eve, and Cain and Abel was amazing to everyone, but like I said, only Colin and Ilia though of it as more than a story.

Link didn't show up to heard the goats back in, which was odd. Faro said I could sleep in tomorrow, since I did all the work this time. I said that wasn't fair, because Link had been doing all the work long before I came around. Faro said I could come but it didn't mean anything, whatever that meant.

Uneventful rest of the day, and I woke up to the sun, not the moon.

* * *

><p>Yeah, this is a small chap...<p>

BTW: Nexon apparently came up with "Because I can and it's free" So, I guess that belongs to them…

Ok, I ask again, is Layla too Mary-sueish? I again, thank whoever says no, but more opinions make me feel better :)


	7. What this Life Came To

Nagara: Sorry I havent uploaded in a long time. I've been paranoid of Link. He keeps talking about...weird stuff...

Midna: -running in- HE'S BACK!

Nagara: OH SHOOT! DUCK AND COVER! -dives behind a table on its side-

Midna: DON'T LEAVE ME! -jumps over table-

Nagara: OW!

Midna: Sorry...

Link: -walks in- Hey guys! I went to a mad scientist who straightened my head out!...Guys? I know I've been a creeper lately but I feel -notices table- -inches towards it- a lot better. I came to offer to do the disclaimer. -flips table- AHA!

Nagara and Midna: AHHHH! -huddling in fear- Wait you want to do the disclaimer?

Link: Yep

Midna: Go ahead

Link: Nagara only owns her OC and the concept. All other characters belong to Nintendo. All song lyrics belong to the artist. And dont worry, this chap may look long cuz of the downscroal bar, because it is, but its not a long as you think.

* * *

><p>Same basic routine for a long time. I was always the first one up in the house. I always did the water. Sera said every time I did this, I could help myself to a piece of bread for breakfast. Which I admit I was selfish about. I always took the cinnamon bread. Of course, I used the rupees I found in the grass – at least one odd thing about the videogame world was real – to pay for taking the expensive stuff. Only about five per slice, which Sera said was more than enough.<p>

I did ask Bo for permission to hunt, but he declined. He said that feeding the entire village would decline the wild animal population. This annoyed me, 'cause the population probably would be dented at the most. There were about one hundred villagers, so…yeah. If I said rabbits populate like thirty per litter, Bo would've been suspicious about how I knew that. I could've lied and said my troupe raised rabbits for food, but traveling with rabbit hutches would've been an inconvenience, so I couldn't say that. I was allowed to hunt a couple times a month, and I was allowed to hunt during the winter for meat and fur purposes.

Link sorta went into social recluse for days on end. I used the time I would've spent with him helping out with the village. Jaggle and Pergie, I should say, didn't have the best marriage in the village, - no, that was Rusl and Uli by far - but Sera and Hanch had the worst. It was happy, but the problem was that Sera was the dominant one, and more than once I found Hanch ranting no nobody about their problems. If I didn't know better – which I do -, I'd say their relationship was in serious jeopardy.

Anyway, back to Jaggle and Pergie: They didn't spend much time together. Jaggle was a lazy butt and I think everybody in the village thought so too. They called each other the lovey-dovey names that make me sick, but I learned this was a farce when I heard Pergie writing out loud in her diary about how cute the blacksmith is – uh….the woman has bad eyesight…really, she does -. I heard the same thing coming from Jaggle concerning the weaver, who also overpriced things, like the shoemaker – thus proving love is blind, the man's eyes are almost never open -.

It may seem like I'm just badmouthing them, but this is what I saw in the two relationships. Rusl an Uli were the blissfully unaware two in the village. Faro and Bo hated each other. Talo actually_ flirted_ with Beth, and Beth was two years older at the time I discovered this. Colin had that crush on Ilia that some boys develop on their babysitters.

I caught Ilia looking up at Link's house on more than one occasion. She paid me five rupees every time to keep me quiet. It worked too. Link eventually figured out Ilia had feelings for him, but I happen to know he rejected her, saying even if they knew each other for years, he wasn't ready to have a romantic relationship, even for her. Sure enough, I learned this the night Ilia invited me to go camping with her, which was filled with "salt water", courtesy of her.

There were other kids in the village our age. The blacksmith's son Chardon is – as far as I'm still aware of - an egotistic flirt. One of those guys that date every girl in the school just because nobody knows why. He said cheesy Hyrulian pick-up lines to the other girls, including Ilia and me. The couple that ran the bakery were like the other artisans, keeping to themselves. Their son Jacob was – not anymore, duh - eleven, nice, but shy. I tried to befriend him, because he apparently only had Beth and Colin. Ilia said he only opened to them 'cause they were the only ones ten and eleven. Jacob and Colin are best friends, even though Jacob is a year older. The innkeeper's daughter…I don't want to talk about her that much. I have one thing to say about her: she was growing up to be…look up synonyms for innkeepers that start with the letter "P". The weaver's daughter Elaine is much better than her mother. While her mother sold things outrageously, Elaine sometimes stole from her mother's shop for the people that needed something else. She also patched people's clothes, but she had to charge for that, otherwise she would've been caught, and therefore shut down. Elaine was the selfless Robin Hood of the village.

Elaine was fifteen as well, and Ilia and my other best friend. Elaine apparently had a crush on Link she only admitted to the two of us. The time she said that, I wanted to say we were Link's first official fangirls in this world, but I didn't. She got over it the time Ilia started to act moony on topics about Link. This just emphasized how nice she is; she gave up her own feelings for the sake of her best friend.

Sky and Raine are the shoemaker's illegitimate fraternal twins, Sky the boy and Raine the girl. Don't worry, that's actually how they announced themselves to me. The story is that the unmarried shoemaker "messed around" with some traveling woman, and she left right after she gave birth. Turned out her total time in Ordon Village was ten months. Those two are the village thieves. They're as thick as thieves, and did steal from the shop, that is until they were caught. I'd rather not say what their punishment was…

Eventually, spring was almost gone. I learned to love Hyrule. Spring in the Ordona Province was lovely. The fruit trees that doted the area had blooms from pink to blue. Once again, the real world was much more vivid than the game. I knew that this wasn't going to last though. I thought about traveling alone after the adventure ends.

Maybe I should say some of the smaller details I thought were unimportant over the months and in some cases seasons. Well, they had a calendar identical, as far as I'm aware of, to Earth's. Link's Birthday is the first day of summer, which makes the journey over three months, assuming he kills Ganondorf around that day, and I was dropped exactly one year before the start. Lucky me, God told me he would stop my body for this time. I thanked him for that. I knew if I thought about it a lot, I would begin to doubt him, so I never thought about it.

Sera's shop worked by reselling the things the artisans made. One loaf of bread the backer's make is like forty rupees through them, but fifty though Sera. This system actually worked though. The villagers bought through the makers, but travelers that passed by saw the shop first, so they bought there. Everybody gained in the end.

I knew how to swim before, but Link taught me to swim the way he did. It was quieter, which was better. My aim also got better and better with time. Once, I even split an arrow down the middle. Once. I memorized a lot of songs out of my book, even though I knew most of them before.

Link taught me how to do front flips and back flips and run to summersault and handstands and cartwheels and even backwards rolls. I really enjoyed learning to do that stuff. It was easier with him, and not a bunch of wannabe P.E instructors saying I'm a terrible spotter, and none of them willing to help complete the movements.

It took a long time for me to physically improve like this, its not like I took naturally. I quit gymnastics at five, but since I was in karate, I was already flexible, had above-average lower-body strength, and balance, but I had to develop upper body strength. I also had to develop trust in myself, like the get rid of the fear that I would break my neck when I do a back flip. That alone took an amazingly long amount of time for me to develop. Point: I took a long time to do these physical feats.

I read the herbal guide so much I almost memorized it. Almost, I mainly only memorized the stuff that was for preventing infections and speeding up healing time and the immune system – at least that had been discovered -. Plus I read the Bible often. Not to the point of memorization, but I did preach to those willing to listen for a while, but I don't think it did much. Some people's God-given talent is converting people. Mine wasn't. It didn't stop me though. All in all, life was good.

~~X~~

By Link's birthday, I officially had no feelings for him. He came out of a particularly long recluse time for his party. I knew I was going to have fun with this. I may have had no special feelings, but that didn't mean I stopped messing with him from time to time. I got the idea from a fanfiction I read. It was what "Link" said made him fall in love with Ilia. I can say in a clean conscious that wasn't my goal: it was a great prank, that's why I wanted to do it. I told Ilia about my plan, and said I had no feelings. I just thought it would be funny. I told her about what it did to Link in the story, but she told me to go for it.

See, for weeks, I told him on our way to work that I had an amazing gift ready for him; so amazing he wouldn't believe it. This killed him; he was dying to know what it was. I never let on. Well, the day of his party rolled around, and there was lots of food, even two old cuccos were killed.

The party died down and I lead him to the goat barn. He was desperate to know what it was, and I told him to close his eyes. He did, but he was clearly suspicious. No surprise, I bet he remembered the stunt I pulled last time I told him to close his eyes. Well, one would think I would kiss him, but I didn't. I broke an egg on his forehead. "Happy Birthday!"

He was furious at me, but I smiled at it. For some reason, I didn't laugh at him. I have to admit, he looked fully with half an eggshell sliding into place over his nose, and the yellowing whites smeared over his face. I apologized, and gave him his real present. It was a bracelet I made.

As I said earlier, I was allowed to hunt for the village every now and then, and at one point I killed a rabbit with the most beautiful pelt. It was for my adopted family, so I asked for the pelt. Beth thought I was gross, but they let me keep it. Faro knew how to tan animal hide, so he helped me tan the pelt. When it was done, I cut a strip from the stomach, where the fur was softest. After a long time, I made a snap buckle. Y'know, the ones with the little holes that had the bumps that fit inside? Well, it took practice, but I made one out of wood. Ilia sewed it to the pelt strip. In itself, it would have been pretty, - not especially comfortable, since he would wear the tanned side - but I wanted it to be special. Who remembers the rock that my machete broke? I used the machete to carve a Triforce into it. It wasn't especially big, but it was noticeable, and clearly the Triforce. I could sew it into the bracelet by myself, so that was the easy part.

I brought a rag with me and helped Link clean himself. Afterwards, I told him, "Hold out your wrist." Slightly confused, he gave me his left hand. I snapped on the bracelet so he could see the Triforce marking. He actually loved it. I admitted that Ilia and Faro helped, but he still loved it. He hugged me, and I hugged him back. This is _my_ viewpoint, so asking me if it was a romantic hug, the answer is no.

~~X~~

Everybody did the same thing for birthdays. I usually gave everybody something similar. I kept the pelt for this purpose. I became sufficient at making these snaps, but I needed Ilia to sew them to the pelt. I could've asked someone else, but Ilia was the second best at sewing. I could've asked the weaver, but she would've charged like thirty rupees per stitch. I could've asked Elaine, but I just didn't, don't ask why. The charms were from pieces of wood I found, and I got Link to carve the charm most of the time. So, in total, the gifts were from: Ilia, Faro, Link, and myself. I only count myself because I killed the rabbit, made the snaps, and cut the pelt. All three said I deserved more credit, but I always said they deserved the most. Maybe I did, maybe I didn't, but I felt they did.

The charm changed depending on my relationship with the person. Both Hanch and Sera's charm was a rupee. Both Rusl and Talo got a sword. Faro's was the Ordon Goat Horns. Colin's was a book, due to his studious nature involving the Bible. Both Jaggle and Pergie go a pumpkin. Uli's was a heart, because she was the most motherly to me. Malo had a little wave design – he fell in the pond, I jumped in after him -. Beth had a music note, since I did teach her a few songs. Bo knew I would do this by the time his birthday was coming, and said I didn't have to do anything, since he admitted there wasn't anything I really _could_ do involving him. Ilia told me to make a joke and do a fish, since he loves fish. Bo laughed at his gift, but he still wore it. Most of the artisans didn't join in on parties. I gave them each a bracelet though, even if they didn't have a party. The charm usually revolved around their line of work, like the blacksmith got a hammer. Some of them got nothing though, like I didn't give Chardon or Sky or Raine anything, but I did give Elaine and Jacob both a heart as a sign of friendship.

Ilia's birthdays and mine are the only one's in winter – I should say the weather in Hyrule is a little whacked. Fall on Earth is winter in Hyrule. Winter is spring, spring is summer, and you get the idea. – But this part isn't about birthdays this is about weather. The winter was _brutal!_ The heavy snowfall blanketed the ground to an extreme. The horses had to be inside the cow barn because if they were exposed outside, they would've gotten frostbite on something. Jaggle lost a toe to frostbite. Most of the time people stayed indoors around a fire. 'Course Ilia and I hung out around Link's fire. The most dreaded task was getting firewood. I did this most of the time, 'cause my dress is the warmest outfit in the village.

Most people didn't have clothes except the ones on their back. Nothing warm, no mittens, no socks, only thinned out work clothes. The weaver was too selfish to give anything away to her fellow villagers, or even just discount things. Elaine gave away some mittens whenever she could, but after getting caught…I think you can figure out what the punishment for a thieving apprentice is…

Ilia's birthday was the second to last to come around – 'cause mine was a week later - since it was in the middle of winter. Hers was a horseshoe. This was the only one I made myself. I did the carving, I made the snaps, and I had run out of rabbit, so I tanned more hide. I even figured out how to do the stitch that I saw in a lot of clothing, like on the back of Ilia's shirt.

My birthday is the thirtieth of November. I had as much of a party as the other main villagers, but mine was special. Link lead me to the barn, and I was thinking, _"Oh shoot…"_ He was going to pull the same, if not a similar prank on me as I did on him. To add to my paranoia, he had become extra friendly over the months. He _maaaaaaaay_ have had a crush on me. When he told me to close my eyes, I pulled my lips in. He wasn't going to kiss me on my lips! Lucky, somewhat, for me, he cracked _two_ eggs on me. He did it in my hair though, so I had a set of egg horns. If it were anybody else, I would've socked them in the face. But I knew I had to take what I dished out. I just smiled and said thanks for the eggs. He was confused that I wasn't mad, but I smeared some of the white and yoke in his hair. We laughed it off.

My real gift was the same type of bracelet as the ones I gave everybody else. I recalled once giving Link a handsome rabbit, so I knew where he got the pelt. My charm was my mark: the Cross, wings, and a halo. Mine was also carved out of stone, not wood. It looked like the same type of stone I made Link's charm out of. I did recall a time where I couldn't find the other half, but I assumed it rolled to the bottom of the pond.

Tears actually came to my eyes at this. I didn't hug him though: I glomped him. I weighed less than before due to my smaller diet, I knew that, but Link fell down. Actually, he was shocked, stumbled, and fell in front of the barn. There was a flurry of snow, so I couldn't see anything, and the cold feeling impaired my sense of touch. Realizing I was on top of Link, I turned madly red, and jumped off him. We didn't look at each other for the rest of the day. I didn't because I had a crush on him again. Note I said day. Oh, I know what's going through your head right now, and that's not what I meant.

~~X~~

I often would wake up and go to Faron Spring in the middle of the night to sing. I never heard Link talk in his sleep though, which disappointed me. Sometimes, I didn't hear anything coming from his house, so it unnerved me a little. Evidently, on the night of my birthday, I had reached the spring, when a twig snapped behind me. I unsheathed my sword and ran after whoever was following me. This person tripped and I got him at blade point. It was Link. "What the heck are you doing?" I demanded

He supported himself on his elbows, and looked me dead in the eye. With a lot of pride in his voice, he said, "Following you. I heard you leave and I wanted to make sure you were safe."

I just disbelievingly laughed at that. After my chuckle, I said, "Safe? The first time I did this was my second night in Ordon. I've been doing this for about a year. If I was safe then, what makes you think I wasn't anymore?"

Link looked at the ground. Out of guilt, embarrassment, or what I don't know. He mumbled, "I didn't know…."

I cocked my head, narrowed my eyes, and asked, "For how long have you been doing this?"

"Three months….?"

I let out a sigh and said, "I was alive every day."

"Can you let me up?" I was a little embarrassed when I realized Link was still on his back with my sword tip on his throat. I sheathed it back in, and helped him up.

"I can look after myself. Why're you worried about me?"

Link sighed and said, "Honestly…..I wanted to hear you sing."

This actually wasn't farfetched. Everybody in the village had heard me sing at this point. In fact, they often made me do little concerts. Ilia, Beth, and myself actually could sing a couple songs together. We used this to our advantage, by swindling any travelers into saying we were separated from our troupe – my "life" was the basis, but this was Beth's idea – and needed money. We sang a couple songs, Ilia danced a little, and we were each about five rupees richer at the _least_.

I leaned slightly forward and said, "Why didn't you just tell me? I would've let you watch."

"If you were singing in the middle of the night, I assumed you wanted to be alone."

"Thanks for your concern, but I just did it to kill time before falling asleep again. Here….to show no hard feelings, I'll sing my favorite song for you. Nobody has ever heard me sing it." Link was excited by this; I could see his eyes light up, even in the dim lantern light. The song was Strong Enough to Save by Tenth Avenue North. I wasn't lying either. Maybe my mom heard me sing along in the car to the radio, or my old friends hearing me whisper the chorus to my iPod, but nobody had ever heard me sing it from beginning to end.

I thing it was the best song I ever sang and probably ever will sing. It came out beautifully. I spun around in circles after the first chorus like a seven year old because I was so blissfully happy.

~~X~~

_You fought  
>but you were just too weak<br>so you lost  
>all the things you tried to keep<br>now you're on your knees, you're on your knees_

_But wait,_  
><em>yeah everything can change,<em>  
><em>in a moments time<em>

_you don't have to be afraid,  
>'cause fear is just a lie<br>open up your eyes_

_And he'll break_  
><em>open the skies to save<em>  
><em>those who cry out His name<em>  
><em>the One the wind and waves obey<em>  
><em>is strong enough to save you<em>

_Look_  
><em>yeah now is not too late<em>  
><em>lift up your head<em>  
><em>let the rain fall on your face<em>  
><em>you're not far from grace, your not too far from grace<em>

_And he'll break_  
><em>open the skies to save<em>  
><em>those who cry out His name<em>  
><em>the One the wind and waves obey<em>  
><em>is strong enough to save you<em>

_Break  
><em>_open the skies to save  
><em>_those who cry out His name  
><em>_the One the wind and waves obey  
><em>_is strong enough to save you_

_I know the weight of this world can take you down like gravity and  
><em>_Yeah I know the current of yourself can take you out,  
><em>_out to sea  
><em>_but hold on,  
><em>_hold on_

_And he'll break_  
><em>open the skies to save<em>  
><em>those who cry out His name<em>  
><em>the One the wind and waves obey<em>  
><em>is strong enough to save you<em>

_Break  
><em>_open the skies to save  
><em>_those who cry out His name  
><em>_the One the wind and waves obey  
><em>_is strong enough to save you_

The neat thing was, that it started to rain a little right when I started singing. While I sang the chorus for second time – the part after "Let the rain fall on your face," -, the clouds over Faron Spring parted. And it wasn't the wind. No, the clouds parted like a zipper. The moon was directly over Faron Spring too. I imagine I looked amazingly stupid spinning in circles ankle-deep in water, turning slightly silver in color, but only Link and the God(s) know. I even grabbed Link and made him spin with me towards the end. When the song ended, I admit; we had a tender moment. He was a full head taller than me, so I hugged him around his neck, and he hugged me by my waist, and rested his chin on my head. Thankfully, he didn't touch my butt. We stood there for a good minute or so, and we broke apart.

What Link said next made my heart swell to twice its size. "What do I have to do to join you religion?"

Tears started to flow down my eyes. I couldn't believe it! He had heard me preach before, but not enough for me to think it reached his heart. And to top off my joy, I imagined this moment back home! But I knew I had to answer the question to complete the fantasy turned reality. "Believe four things: Jesus is the Son of God, Jesus lived a sinless life, he died on the Cross for our sins, and rose again on the third day, he then went to heaven, and that Jesus will go back to my world, and take all that believe these things to be with him in heaven."

"That's seven things." Just like him to be difficult. We laughed at this. As he wiped the tears from my eyes, he said a beautiful oath. "I, Link, Farmhand of Ordon Village, in the Ordona Province, promise to believe, from here on out, in the religion of Layla, Farmhand of Ordon Village, in the Ordona Province. I believe that her God placed his likeness into a woman, and the Son of God, Jesus was born. I believe Jesus lived a life without sin. I believe that Jesus died on the crucifix for our sins. I believe Jesus rose from the grave on the third day, and then went to heaven to be with his heavenly father. And finally, I believe he will go back to her world to take all that believe these things to be in heaven."

The tears stopped falling, and I hugged him again. I buried my face in his shirt and said, "It wasn't necessary to go all out like that. If you just believe in these facts with your heart, you are an official Christian"

He just returned the hug and stroaked my head a little, saying, "It wasn't necessary?"

The moonlight shone brighter on us, but at the same time, there was loud thunder. We broke apart and covered our ears 'cause it was so loud. "Our God approves, but your old ones disprove." That was my comment when the thunder went away.

"Clearly."

~~X~~

Let the pro-teen relationship girls attack me now; I raced him back to the village. We didn't hold hands, we had a race, and it was fun. But girls I will admit: I was falling in love with him again. Can you blame me? He just converted to my religion! At I was falling at an ideal time, if I do say so myself, with the first day of spring if two weeks. The first day of spring was the day I fell into Hyrule.

* * *

><p>Yeah, this chap was freaking long. Dont worry, only two more until the sequel, and one is really short<p>

PLEASE DONT FLAME ME! I know a lot of people will hate me for converting Link, but its _fan_fiction. I promise I wont go far with religion.

I'm not ganna ask if Layla is a Mary Sue anymore, because I took a test, and she just barely passed. I again thank all those who said she isnt

I also would like to thank everyone who likes my story :)

PS: The real reason I havent uploaded is cuz I had a project overload then a homework overload


	8. Nearing a Begining

Nagara: Almost done with this!

Midna: And then I get to join the story!

Nagara: Yes, so stop saying that or I'll postpone your appearance even longer than it already has been.

Midna: …you…did…not…just…say…that…

Link: Shit Nagara, you're in trouble.

Nagara: I have author powers.

Midna: NO! NO! ANYTHING BUT THAT!

Nagara: …what? I'm just saying that I can cancel out anything you can do

Midna: …so you didn't know my weakness?

Link: YOU HAVE A WEAKNESS?

Nagara: Ugh. I only own the current plot and any OC's of mine. Other chars are Nintendo. Song lyrics and titles are artists

* * *

><p>I got more and more nervous as the last mark was coming. I think Link noticed too. I was a little jittery, and he would always ask me what's wrong. I said nothing, but the fact that he asked twice a day for a week proved he didn't believe me.<p>

I kicked up my weapons practice and herbal studying in the week. I wanted to be ready for the adventure. I eventually had enough control with the machete that I could hold it in one hand. Not like this was going to be used that much. It was more of a tool than anything.

I managed to make a concoction of herbs that, if everything was working in harmony, would restore strength and fight coughs. I put it in that bottle that said "shampoo." Who remembers that? Well, I never used it. The cat ate it before I could. I had an empty bottle, and that's where the concoction went. If anybody wants to make it, the herbs are called catnip, honey – I added that in on the day the adventure unofficially started, y'know, the day Link and I had a break from herding goats – gingko leaves, and lemon juice. Only the gingko strengthens, since it was the only thing I could find that does. I boiled the plants, strained them, and boiled them again. It became more gunky than liquidy, but the book didn't say how to _prepare_ the plants. Just what to look for.

Well, I spent a lot of time with Ilia. I knew she would be the last one too see again. I just wanted to spend more time with my best friend. This sorta backfired due to my new-found jealousies slash insecurities.

It was the three days before the anniversary of my dropping into Hyrule. I told Ilia I wanted to talk to her about something, so we went to Ordon Spring. "Ilia….what do you think of Link? I know the three of us are like, best friends, but do you…and he rejected you months ago…but do you still…?"

"….Yes…I do still like him more than just friends, and I know you do too."

"How….?"

"I saw when you jumped on top of him at your birthday party. Besides, why would you ask if you didn't?"

"Good point…hey, you were following us!" Realizing she was stalking us didn't make me angry, it made me think of jealous Mary Sue interpretations of her. None of those are very good interpretations in my opinion, but they made for good reading.

"I felt left out, not jealous."

"Well you know what he gave me. I hugged him, and in his shock, he fell backwards. If you saw that, then you know I jumped off of him quickly." I started to blush a little recollecting the embarrassing events, but acted like I didn't notice.

"Yeah…..but I felt left out."

She was annoying me a little, so I said, a little bratty-like, "Remember my prank on his birthday?"

"Yeah."

"Did you see the egg in my hair later in the day?"

"…Uh…actually I didn't notice. I doubt anyone did."

"Well, Link did the same thing to me that I did to him. Except instead of one egg on my face, it was two eggs on my head." I chuckled on the inside at the memory of realizing I had egg in my hair, but I didn't show it.

"…So that's why he lead you over there?"

"Yeah, for payback."

"….Hell, I'm sorry for the way I've been acting recently." She actually did owe me an apology. She was acting like a brat since my party, occasionally giving me the death glare when the three of us were together, and Link didn't notice.

Evidently, I felt like apologizing to her. I honestly was in love with Link, but I didn't want to take him away from Ilia. They knew each other longer than I knew them – I got the game in 2010, so they really did know each other longer than they knew me -. "I'm sorry too….I've been invading when it should be the two of you." This was also true. I would sometimes walk in by accident when they were having a conversation. Ilia didn't give me death glares at the time, but they developed over time. "Link chooses who he likes, not us." We hugged, and walked back to the village.

When I stepped out of the spring, I heard a voice in my head say, _"Ready yourself. Your time is rising like the sun. But be wary. It may stop like the perpetual sunset of the Twilight Realm."_

"_Ordona….."_

* * *

><p>Well this chap was frikin short.<p>

I would like to thank everybody that reads this story, and all that said Layla isn't a Mary Sue. I feel confident enough in my abilities as a writer to be able to avoid turning into a Mary Sue without opinions :3

But that doesn't mean I don't want reviews! Keep giving your opinions on the story! All authors want opinions to grow, and I'm no exception.


	9. Coming Now

**Hey guys that read this. I just wanted to say that I got sick of my pen name, and I'm gonna change it with my next story.**

**See, it's the same as my deviant art account, and most of my friends there based their usernames on their character from a pokemon RP'ing site that died a long time ago –not going to say the site it's a waste of time now. I figured I might as well change it because Nagara is the name of a char of mine, but I'm sure you figured that out already ^^**

**Anyway, I haven't tested anything out yet, so just wanted to say, I have the first chap of the second story ready, so be prepared.**

* * *

><p>I'm really not proud of this at all, this just a filler, but whatever. I do not own LoZ in any way, outside the games I or my mother bought. Character is mine.<p>

* * *

><p>The next day was the day that Rusl asks Link to go to Hyrule Castle to present the gift to Princess Zelda.<p>

I felt sick to my stomach when I woke up that morning. I was also the last one up for the first time. I walked into the dining area, gripping my stomach and using the wall for balance, to find my semi-adopted family eating eggs. Sera said, "Oh my Goddesses Layla! Are you OK?"

I managed to croak out, _"Nooooo."_

Beth stood up and tried to support me. "You're going back to bed."

I used some of my strength to push her away from me and said, "_No, just take me to Ordon Forest. I'll be fine there,"_ but my voice sounded like it was coming from my gut.

Beth said, "Why in the name Ganondorf should I take you there?"

For the first time since I got here, I heard Hanch raise his voice to somebody. He said, "BETH! LANGUAGE!"

Barely acknowledging him, Beth tried to lead me to our room, and saying, "Sorry dad."

As Beth led me to the room, I stopped and said, _"I have some herbs there that'll help me. Can you help me up on Sapphira?"_

It took a lot of persuasion to convince Beth to help me on my horse, but finally she did. She promised to tell Faro of my sickness, and to let me off today and tomorrow.

Link was already herding by the time I had awoken, and was apparently heading back when I reached the clearing, so I didn't run into anybody. I felt so sick and lightheaded, that I fell off Sapphira. I landed on the patch of moss near where I stored my herbs, which was my plan all along. Crawling over to a shallow scoop in the ground where I stored my herbs, I ingested all the ones I knew, foggy as my mind was, that could heal bellyache. Chervil root, juniper berries, and watermint. I would've eaten the ginger, but last time I ate that, I felt sick afterwards. I even ate the stinging nettle seed, in case I had eaten something poisonous, but I doubted I did.

After laying there for about an hour, I did feel better. After another hour, I was confident that the herbal juice was in my system. I ate the yarrow then, to see what was in my stomach that caused me have this pain. Yes…..yarrow makes you throw up.

To remove ANY ideas, I WASN'T pregnant. The closest thing I ever did to having sex was the time Link fell down with me on top of him. Do I mention that event too much?….Anyway, after I ate the yarrow, last nights pumpkin came up. Not like I was poking through it, but I found a lot of rind in there. I guess it got stuck in my stomach, but maybe I had a bite of something with bacteria in it, and this was a minor stomach flu.

I still felt weak, but I had enough strength to climb on Sapphira. If one thinks a horse can show emotion in their eyes, Sapphira showed serious concern. I said to her, "C'mon girl. I climbed up, that means I'm getting better." Sapphira made a horse sound, and actually led me home.

Link and Ilia were in front of his house, and when they saw me, they ran over. Link spoke first. "Layla! Are you Ok? Beth told me what happened! And I told Ilia!" Hearing how worried he was and the look in his eyes made my heart beat faster. Maybe he was the idiot that cared about everybody except himself, like in some fanfictions.

"I'm fine now, so don't worry. I can guarantee that I'll be better by tomorrow. Weak, but better. I bet by the next day, I could run to Hyrule Field and back!" I meant from Faron Spring to the Forest Temple to Hyrule Field, but I doubt either of them knew about the temples yet, and besides….this was an exaggeration. I had almost no stamina back home, and even though I physically improved in Hyrule, I still wasn't that good over long distances. I can run a mile in about six minutes.

"As long as you take the rest of today and tomorrow off, I'm sure you could," said Ilia. I gave her a smile of thanks, and tried to add my sorry for our conversation yesterday. Little did they know I wouldn't be resting any time soon.

~~X~~

Most of the village went to Faron Woods to gather wood for the day, but I stayed behind. I was a decent actress, so I acted sad about being left out, but I was going to use this to my advantage. While waving everybody good-bye, with the most forlorn expression I could, I had a devilish glint in my eye.

I went and grabbed my weapons. I was feeling much like my old self by now.

I used Link's practice area for…practice. The sword slashed beautifully. I knew how to do five of the hidden skills, so I practiced those: Ending Blow, Shield Attack, Back Slice, Helm Splitter, and Mortal Draw. The other two I assume required magic or actually being taught it to do, so I didn't know them. I sharpened my weapons too; even I knew blunt blades do nothing.

Archery practice was fun. Hit every target in the dead center. I even killed a skullwattula that was on Link's ladder. Those things shriveled up when they died, so they basically disappeared. Let me just say, getting the arrows out of the tree targets was not fun in the slightest. Climbing trees, yes. Climbing trees and hanging on to wooden targets while climbing, no. Machete practice wasn't that special. If I hit the scarecrow any more, the marks would become noticeable, and Link would chastise me to no end for practicing instead of resting. I just slashed it around, and stabbed the air. By now, I could hear people coming back, so I grabbed my stuff and ran home. I fell on my mat, and pretended to be asleep.

The kids walked in first. I should say I had developed a pretty good relationship with each of them, even Colin, who was afraid of me in the beginning. They were all decently worried about me. Since I was sweaty, they thought I was getting worse, but I said I had a nightmare. When they asked what it was about, I just said a fire-and-ice-breathing dragon was chasing me, and I didn't have anything to defend myself. They all patted my shoulder saying I should forget about it.

After they finally left, Uli walked in. Uli gave me a little physical, and said that I would be fine.

Ilia was next. She had tears in her eyes, clearly worried about one of her best friends. I reminded her about what I said riding back to the village. She seemed to be better, and after giving me a hug, left.

The other adults poked their head in, said get well soon, and left. None of the artisans came though.

I could see the sun go down. I could envision the scene with Rusl and Link. Eventually, I heard the clop-clop of Epona's horseshoe's as Link rode her to corral the goats for the night.

Rusl stopped by, and just told his little apprentice to get better. It disappointed me a lot. Rusl and Uli were more like parents to me than Hanch and Sera. Of course I couldn't live with them 'cause of their small house. I wasn't looking for replacement parents when I started to adapt to this life, but they sorta became replacement parents.

When the sun had gone down, Link finally showed up. "Did you think I forgot about you?" He said. He seemed concerned, more so than the others. Like he was anticipating and preparing for me to say yes.

Not with as much attitude as I could've had I said, "I knew you would be busy. Not really."

He seemed happier, and sat down next to me. "How'd you feel?"

I had do smirk at this. "You didn't ask anyone I assume. And you've clearly forgotten what I told you while riding Sapphira."

He smiled at this. I didn't, but he turned bright red. Embarrassed, longing, concern mixed with the previous two, general boy thoughts? I don't know why. And if it's the last option, I prayed, _"Lord, let me not develop general girl thoughts _again_!"_

* * *

><p>YAAAAAAAY! I finished it! Well then, I will call the other fic Long Awaited, and it should be up on saturday if I remember, so look for it!<p> 


End file.
